


On the Run From the Quiet

by Skymelody14



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura needs to chill, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Based on Steven Universe episode "On the Run", Galra Keith (Voltron), Not Beta Read, Not a Crossover, Post-Episode: s02e08 The Blade of Marmora, Season 2 didn't satisfy my need for angst, Self-Hatred, So I made this garbage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 07:24:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9873236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skymelody14/pseuds/Skymelody14
Summary: “I'm not going to let you stand there and remind me of everything I hate about myself!”~~~Fix-it Fic for Keith's Galra reveal with Steven Universe mixed in basically





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is not proofread and I only spent like an hour writing it, but I was watching Steven Universe and I realized how similar Amethyst was to Keith. So, I wrote this. Enjoy!

In a castle as vast as the one occupied by the Paladins of Voltron, quiet was an inevitable circumstance. It creeped up in the endless night of space often when least expected, leaving an unshakeable feeling of small. In the face of such existentialism, Keith threw himself into training, the clash of sword on staff replacing the quiet with sound. Lance made himself loud and large and impossible to ignore, pushing away the quiet in favor of his obnoxious nature. On days where silence seemed to permeate, every corner of the castle was filled with Coran’s stories or Pidge’s technological ramblings, or the comforting crash of pots and pans as Hunk worked on his ever present quest to make something edible for the team. So yes, while an unsettling quiet would occasionally find its way into the castle walls, it was always hidden behind the constant noise not of a house, but of a home. 

 

That day, however, was different. That day was completely silent. And so was the day after that, and the rest of the week. A heavy, tense silence that filled every room with emptiness. The same silence that had arrived with the Blade of Marmora and refused to leave since. It wasn't that this silence was unexpected either, it was inevitable with the unexpected news that had caused it. 

 

~

 

Keith opened the door of the castle to be greeted by a stream of raucous yelling and the worried faces of the other Paladins. 

 

“Keith, why was the Red Lion attacking–”  
“You're bleeding, what did they do to you?”  
“–shouldn't have trusted–”  
“–They're Galea, of course they can't be trusted–”  
“They're evil, that's what–”

 

“Guys!” Shiro yelled, his authoritative voice cutting off their anxious rambling. “I get that you're worried, but Keith is hurt,” he reasoned, “we need to get him to a healing pod and then we can talk about what happened.” His request was met with a tense silence, before Allura nodded reluctantly. 

 

“Of course,” she murmured, before shaking her head and speaking resolutely to the team. “Shiro is right. Keith can tell us what happened after he's healed. That's for more important–”

 

“No!” Keith cried, his voice ragged at the edges. The heads of the team snapped to look at him, varying degrees of surprise and confusion in their gazes. He looked down at the floor beneath him, his hands shaking at his sides. “I have to– I need to tell you now.” 

 

“Keith,” Shiro whispered, placing his hand lightly on the younger Paladin’s shoulder, “you don't have to do this right now.” Keith shook his hand off, meeting his eyes with a pained expression. 

 

“Yes, I do,” he muttered under his breath, his face contorting as if saying the words caused him physical pain, “I need to know now– if I can't stay.” His eyes sparkled with unshed tears and he took a breath to strengthen his resolve. “I can't bear to wake up– just to be sent away again. I can't, I can't–” He let out a cry of frustration, making the rest of the team jump in surprise. His chest heaved with the effort of speaking as he continued. “I have to, Shiro. Please.” His voice trailed of with the quiet plea, and Shiro’s head dropped in defeat. Taking that as his sign to continue, Keith turned back to his team. 

 

“Red was attacking their base because I was going through their trials,” he began, “knowledge or death, that's the rule. I wanted– I needed to find out about this.” He paused to pull out his dagger, the ancient cloth still wrapped around the Galran symbol at the hilt, and lay it on the table in front him. 

 

“You brought that onto their base? They said no weapons, you could've gotten yourself killed!” Allura scolded, “what does that knife have to do with the Blade of Marmora?” Everyone else’s eager gaze seemed to ask the same question. Keith looked down at the dagger uncertainly for only a moment before pulling away the cloth to reveal the glowing symbol. He tried to ignore the synchronized and shocked intake of breath, keeping his eyes fixated on the single blade that started all of this. 

 

“I've had this since I was born,” he explained, shifting his feet nervously as he spoke, “my dad… He said it came from my mom. I never– I never thought anything of it until Ulaz showed up. And then… I noticed things that I wouldn't have noticed before.” He paused his story, laughing humorless my at the pure absurdity of what he was about to say. “Anyways, I was able to ‘awaken the blade’ and apparently… Apparently that means I have Galra blood in me.” Keith had reached down to grip onto the table at this point, his knuckles white as he gripped onto it with all he had in some attempt to keep his voice from shaking. He didn't look up from the dagger, he didn't want to see the fear and hatred that was inevitable on their faces. And it was silent, a terrible and cruel silence that mocked him with every second that passed. 

 

“Get out.” 

 

Well, perhaps the silence wasn't so cruel. And suddenly, all eyes were on Allura’s, which were cold and calculating and hateful. 

 

“Allura?” Shiro mumbled questioningly, his dark eyes fixated on her. 

 

“You heard me,” she hissed, “Get out of this room, get out of my castle, Galran SCUM like you don't deserve to pilot the red lion!” 

 

Keith’s hands were shaking again, and he was sure he was crying. But Allura’s face stayed cold and everyone else stayed quiet. And God, you would think that Keith had done enough to earn any semblance of trust from the closest thing he had ever had to family, but Pidge was looking at the ground and Hunk and Shiro were looking at Allura and Lance… God, Lance was looking at Keith with something so close to fear. Maybe Keith knew less about family than he thought. Whatever this was, this was not family. 

 

So Keith left the room. 

 

And nobody stopped him. 

 

~

 

It had been about a week since Keith had told everyone about him being Galra. That was about the amount of time since he spoke to anyone on the ship who wasn't Shiro. And the silence was stifling, and he was pretty sure that no one cared. 

 

•••

 

“Allura!” Shiro yelled, his voice echoing down the hall. Allura winced at the sound of his voice, rising to her feet and turning to exit the room. Or at least, she would've done that. But before she had the chance, there was a hand on her arm and when she looked back it was into disapproving eyes. 

 

“What do you want Shiro?” She grumbled, unable to muster up any emotion past tired frustration. They had played the same cat and mouse game for the full week, resulting in an uncomfortable tension throughout the team. It was hard to plan the destruction of the Galran Empire with your team when you weren't actually speaking to the majority of them. 

 

“You know what I want,” he growled, releasing her arm once he realized she wasn't about to flee. “You need to talk to Keith.” At those words, the anger sparked once more in her chest because of course Shiro was siding with Keith. The Galra who had been lying to all of them without their knowledge. The manipulator she had come to consider family. 

 

“He's a Galra Shiro,” she barked, saying the word with a bite so unlike her. “He lied to all of us.” 

 

“He didn't lie!” Shiro retaliated, his voice rising as his anger grew, “He found out he was Galra minutes before you! He found out he was part alien and mere minutes later he was cast out by the closest thing he's ever had to a family!” Shiro was yelling now, something he didn't do often. And Allura’s resolve weakened with every word he screamed. “He is not a Galra! He is a paladin, he is family! I can't believe that you, of all people, would ignore that!” Shiro paused to take a shuddering breath, running a hand over his face as he collected himself, pushing his anger and disappointment to the side. “Keith has done nothing to make us doubt him. Not once. He has saved our lives, fought by our side, he is as much a paladin as the rest of us.” Allura was silent as Shiro spoke, her burning gaze trained on his feet. 

 

“I can't trust the Galra, Shiro,” she hissed can her voice breaking on his name. Shiro winced, reaching out his hand to place it gently in hers. Her eyes were damp with tears when her gaze finally met his own. 

 

“Then don't,” he said simply, allowing a small smile to cross his face, “Trust Keith.” Allura’s head dropped, and she nodded quickly. 

 

“I have a lot of apologizing to do.”

 

•••

 

“Hey Keith…” 

 

Keith looked up from the ground, his chest heaving and sweat rolling down his forehead. His seemingly permanent scowl only deepened when he saw who had been sent to check up on him. 

 

“End training session,” he growled, deactivating his bagged and setting it to the side. He turned to Lance without pause, a scowl evident on his face.   
“Come to check up on me, huh? Who sent you this time, was it Shiro?” Lance fumbled for words at Keith’s accusation, clearly unsure of what to do. At least until the training door opened behind him once more with Princess Allura standing behind it.   
“You've got to be kidding me,” he muttered, repressing the feelings of betrayal and hurt that had followed Allura for the past week. 

 

“Shiro told me you'd be in here,” she began, shifting her weight to her left side and wringing her hands, “We need to talk.” Keith blanched at her words, grabbing his bathed and tightening his grip on it. 

 

“What,” he chuckled, his eyes shining with tears yet to fall, “about the bad thing? About the evil Galrans and the bad Galra on the team?”

 

“Keith,” Lance cut in, desperation in his words. Keith cut him off with the raise of his hand, turning to face Allura as she struggled for a response. 

 

“I never should've come here,” she muttered, running a hand through her white locks of hair. There was a flash of light as Keith’s bagged activated, the split second of red catching Allura’s eye. She reached quickly for one of the training staff’s. 

 

“Then why don't you just leave!” Keith shouted, his expression wild as he clashed his sword into Allura’s staff. She slid backward with the sheer force of his attack, digging her heels into the ground and pushing him back. 

 

“I don't want to fight you!” She cried, blocking another blow from him and stepping forward to deliver one of her own. Lance rushed forward to get in between them, and Keith pushed him away with his shoulder, sending him sprawling into the ground with surprising strength. 

 

“I wouldn't want to fight me either!” He shouted, jumping forward and parrying an attack from the staff. He swung his sword around, knocking it against the wall before it bounced once more off of the weapon. “Why don't you admit it, I’m just an embarrassment to you!” Allura shook her head, taking a step forward and using the end of her staff to knock Keith onto the ground. 

 

“You can't beat me Keith!” She yelped, brushing away strands of hair that had fallen into her face. Keith pushed himself off of the floor, taking a moment to catch his breath before rising to his feet and facing Allura once more. 

 

“I, don't, care!” He shrieked, running forward and barreling into the princess with all of the force he had. She took a step back to keep from falling, distancing herself considerably from Keith. The end of his sword had caught fire in his frustration, leaving a bright red flame trailing down the metal of the sword. “I'm not going to let you stand there and remind me of everything I hate about myself!” He cried, crashing his flaming blade into Allura’s staff. She dropped her weapon as it caught fire, frantically stomping out the flame with one foot. Keith dropped his sword as well, and both stared at each other in shock. 

 

“I never asked for it to be this way,” Keith sobbed, tears trailing down his cheeks as he struggled to speak, “I never asked to exist!” 

 

Everyone in the room froze at those words, the weight of the confession settling heavy between them. Keith took a step towards Allura, still struggling to breathe through tears and exhaustion. 

 

“Stop it!” Lance screamed, sprinting between the two of them and holding out his hands. They both paused in their fight,short of breath and disheveled. “Keith,” Lance choked out, discomfort clear in his blue eyes, “I know you're upset, but I can't bear to see you two hurt each other!” 

 

Keith opened his mouth to reply just as the lights in the training room flickered out, leaving the three of them in the dark. Lance heard Keith’s footsteps moving away from them, and he reached out a hand in the blackness. “Keith!”

 

~ 

 

It hardly took a minute for the lights to come back on. Unfortunately for Allura and Lance, a minute was more than enough time for Keith to completely vanish. They had walked back and forth down the halls for wait seemed like hours, every empty corridor weighing heavier on them. 

 

“Keith!” Lance called, struggling to keep the worry from his voice. They both paused when they reached the next hallway, sighing in relief at the sight of Keith. He was sitting at the end of the hall, knees to his chest and head to his knees, ten sting visibly at the sound of their arrival. 

 

“Keith,” he breathed, relief crossing their face and melting their frown, “I was worried.” He paused for a moment, his hand hovering uncertainly above Keith’s shoulder. “Look,” he muttered, “I know I don't understand any of this–”

 

“No, you don't. If you did, you wouldn't want to be anywhere near me.” Keith kept his head down, unable to meet Lance’s gaze in fear of what he would find there. 

 

“Allura, you have to talk to him,” Lance murmured, stepping away from Leith so that Allura could sit beside him. 

 

“Keith…” She stuttered, avoiding his tear stained gaze in fear that she'd be completely swallowed by her guilt, “I had no idea that you were so affected by this.” Keith’s head snapped up that, anger replacing grief. 

 

“You had no idea?” He yelled, “This is like, my entire existence!” Allura winced at the anger in his tone, her cheeks red with shame as she looked back at the ground. “I'm just a big mistake!” He cried, running one hand through his hair and wiping away his fears with the other. 

 

“No!” Allura shouted, “you aren't a mistake Keith! You're just, the byproduct of a big–” she cut off at the hurt in Keith’s eyes, holding back a shout of frustration. “None of this is your fault!” Allura reasoned, motioning around her as she spoke, “you didn't build the Galra Empire, you didn't destroy Altea…” She trailed off at the mention of her home planet, reaching forward and placing a hand on Keith’s. “You're the one good thing that came out of this mess,” she reassured, “isn't that something to be proud of?” Keith finally met her eyes, a rare and tearful grin on his face. In a moment of uncharacteristic vulnerability, he flung his arms around Allura. His whispered thanks was unheard by anyone but her. 

 

And just like that, the moment was over. When the three of them walked out of the hall, the silence was comfortable. The palace and its Paladin's were at peace once more.


End file.
